D&D Ideas — Blind
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is blind, which we discussed in our live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST and talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of blind, in Fountain of Fortunes adventurers discover a blindfolded statue forcing characters to consider what they value or deem sacred? This and 54 other dynamic encounters ready to drop right into your game come straight Out of the Box here. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy, by signing up here. Our new channel Nerdarchy Live surges forward! Nerdarchy the YouTube channel remains our flagship source for videos but our long form content like Live Chat Revivified and game plays finds a home over at Nerdarchy Live. Be sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you can join us and new guests weekdays at noon plus several RPG live plays. Learn more about Nerdarchy Live and how to make sure you don’t miss a thing right here. With the COVID-19 pandemic situation we want to assure everyone we’re following all the guidelines and regulations, and practicing safety and preventative measures like social distancing, and we strongly urge everyone to do the same. Our partners and employees health is our No. 1 priority. Visit Coronavirus.gov for the latest news, updates and developments.
RPG Guide to Practical Character Optimization — Part 2
Part 1 of this guide to character optimization for tabletop roleplaying games goes over some general guidelines and touches on a few key points of the practical optimization process. You can check that out here. Now we’ll dive headfirst into combat.
RPG Guide to Practical Character Optimization — Part 1
Hail and well met! I thought I’d share with you all something that’s been on my mind for a while and that’s the concept of character optimization in tabletop roleplaying games. I’ll occasionally refer to third edition (v. 3.5) Dungeons & Dragons because it’s one of the systems I’m the most familiar with (it’s also the system I’ve been using for most of the games I run nowadays). My intention is for this guide’s content to include such systems as GURPS, old or new World of Darkness, Rolemaster and so on. There are so many great systems out there it’ll make your head spin. Anyway, onto the show and the first of three parts of my collected thoughts on what it means to optimize in RPGs.
Adventure Beneath the Waves With This New Aquatic Race for 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds! Today, rather than my usual babble I have a playable race for you that should be compatible with Wizard’s Wake, one of the titles over at Nerdarchy the Store or really any other seafaring kind of adventure for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. So without further ado, I present to you, the Thylocanthus, an new playable aquatic race for 5E D&D characters. These seafolk would fit right into the tropical Gylathacean Isles where the magical wreckage of Wizard’s Wake rests amid gorgeous tropical islands or any aquatic underwater adventures. Perhaps they could work with the Order of the Golden Quill or immerse themselves in the goings on around Saltmarsh.
Old D&D Spell Death Knell Reborn for 5E D&D — It Tolls for Thee!
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted examine an old spell and give it the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons treatment. In a previous edition death knell gave clerics the ability to siphon the life force of dying creatures to heal themselves, boost their Strength and empower their spellcasting. Whoa! The nasty necromancy spell does some heavy lifting for a 2nd level spell and while planning the video we discussed how this was a great spell for Dungeon Masters to add to enemy spell lists. Tracking dying NPCs and monsters isn’t something I did and I don’t recall anyone I ever played with doing it either, so the part about touching a living creature with -1 or fewer hit points sort of suggests this is the design intent of the spell. At any rate, Dave and Ted enjoyed talking about death knell so after you hear what they have to say we’ll lay it down for 5E D&D so you can drop it right into your own games.
50 Potential Geas for 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds! A couple of months ago I wrote about the use of geas in your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons game with some of the fun ways you can implement this classic spell. Today I thought I’d dust the concept back off and come back at you with a list, I daresay a table even, of potential geas you could use for your players to have fun with. If you’re interested in the original post check out Effective Use of Geas in D&D here.
When I Get That Feeling I Want Natural Healing
Natural healing is good for me when it comes to fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons and over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted rest up for the next adventure by taking a look at natural healing throughout all the editions of D&D. Aside from the obvious mechanical differences discussed in the video it’s worth noting how methods of natural healing in D&D affect the style of gameplay and storytelling. The core premise of D&D — solving puzzles, talking with other characters, battling fantastic monsters and discovering fabulous magic items and other treasure — remains the same but how stories and adventures progress and more importantly how long these things take in game time changes dramatically. You’ll find no edition wars here, or disparaging words about any editions of D&D. I’ve loved ’em all and I enjoy each more than the previous (yes that means 4E D&D is my second favorite). So let’s get into it.
Beware the Reaver | New 5E D&D Fighter Subclass is the Darkest Yet!
Blood. Pain. Terror. For most these words evoke dread, but for the Reaver they trigger glee, excitement and promise. Some Reavers come to their powers through dark rituals or actions horrific and unspeakable and others are born with an innate connection to primal bloodlust, which fuels their sadism. Here is a homebrew fighter subclass for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons — the Reaver Martial Archetype. If you’re seeing this post for the second time, it’s due to some technical issues we had with the site, but this fighter subclass was just too good to lose.
Holiest 5E D&D Character? Mythic Odysseys of Theros Says Hold My Kykeon
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted channel divinity to come up with the holiest character in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons to answer a community request. We returned to the Character Build Guide series we haven’t created for in a while and developed the Holy Paragon, a 5E D&D character leaning all the way into their divine nature. But now Mythic Odysseys of Theros released digitally and if you really want to play a character devoted to the gods, look no further. I’ve been incredibly excited about MOoT since we stumbled upon the release prior to the announcement and I looked through the whole hotly anticipated book this morning. I’m blown away.
Suffuse Your 5E D&D Campaign with 5 Color Mana Spellcasting
When Fil Kearney saw Wizards of the Coast creating settings and material for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons straight from the planes of Magic: The Gathering like many other players he anticipated the classic five color mana system wouldn’t be far behind. But after six Plane Shift releases plus Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica officially incorporating the worlds of M:TG to 5E D&D magic in the two games remains distinct without any crossover. So like any creative gamer Fil set out to develop his own 5 Color Mana system. Tap Untap Burn is a robust system for incorporating Magic’s classic color wheel into 5E D&D and Fil poured a tremendous amount of work into this to excite longtime Magic fans as well as 5E D&D players without any knowledge of the seminal trading card game. So let’s get into it and see what you can add to your games.
Tame Monsters with the Creature Keeper 5E D&D Warlock Patron
It may be my recent kick of Monster Rancher on Amazon Prime or it may be my continued obsession with the monster taming genre on the whole but I’ve kept mulling over a monster taming campaign for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. A lot of it is sparked by the Bestiary of Benevolent Monsters right in our own Nerdarchy the Store here and I just couldn’t get it out of my head — there had to be a way to tame some of the amazing creatures in this supplement. At first I thought making a new Ranger Archetype would be the way to go but ranger just didn’t quite capture it for me. Then I figured maybe it could be a feat? But I quickly realized it would require multiple feats and end up becoming far too complicated. Then it hit me — warlock! Suppose there were an Otherworldly Patron whose motives were less sinister and more misunderstood? Maybe this patron wants to protect all life? But no, because druids and clerics already serve the gods and the fey. I needed something else, a different theme. At last I had an epiphany. I would return to the roots of what I wanted to recreate — monsters! Thus was the inspiration for the Creature Keeper, a being (not quite a god) all about protecting the lives of monstrosities.
D&D Ideas — Insects
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is insects, which we discussed in our live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST and talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of insects, in Feeling Buggy adventurers can aid an unusual insectoid creature to overcome its greatest enemy — their own imagination! — and gain a loyal retainer in the process in one of the 55 Out of the Box encounters available now! You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy, by signing up here. Visit the brand new Nerdarchy Live here to subscribe and hit that notification bells so you don’t miss live chats on Mondays at 8 p.m. eastern plus our regular three videos each week where we talk about D&D and other RPGs. While we are at home following health safety guidelines we’re continuing to film our videos remotely and Live Chat Revivified streams weekdays at noon eastern with creators joining Nerdarchist Dave to talk nerdy and take questions from the live audience. With the COVID-19 pandemic situation we want to assure everyone we’re following all the guidelines and regulations, and practicing safety and preventative measures like social distancing, and we strongly urge everyone to do the same. Our partners and employees health is our No. 1 priority. Visit Coronavirus.gov for the latest news, updates and developments.
Save Me, Online Gaming! You’re My Only RPG Hope
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted look at how current events could change the Dungeons & Dragons hobby forever. Social distancing and stay and home guidelines affect tabletop roleplaying game enthusiasts around the world whose in person player groups are on hold or or exploring ways to play games like fifth edition D&D online. Physical accessories like miniatures and terrain represent some of the changes this different way to play can manifest, since these types of accessories often remain shelved, replaced by web cameras and virtual tabletops. My own gaming takes place almost exclusively online ever since my longtime home group dispersed due to moves and relocations but we’ve kept up getting together and playing for a few years now. Like Dave and Ted mention in the video there’s valuable takeaways from online gaming we can bring back to our in person sessions in the future and as someone used more to the former than the latter I hope these observations enrich your RPG experiences too, so let’s get into it.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Magic Items for Barbarians by a Factor of Three*
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted take a look at magic items in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons with an eye towards the ones particularly beneficial for a barbarian. Like the discussion on top magic items for rogues this is an unusual topic because it’s rare for a character to choose magic items. However there’s a few opportunities I can think of off the top of my head. In Adventurers League play items can be traded on a one-for-one basis for items with the same rarity at a cost of 15 downtime days unless they’re playing at the same table. Games beginning beyond 1st level often allow for players to choose magic items too, like in our own monthly fan one shots. These particular looks at 5E D&D magic items are very difficult for an entirely different reason though. Subjectivity rules the day, and for our Top 10 by a Factor of Three method here at the website it gets quite noodly when all the official content gets thrown out the window as we browse homebrew magic items at D&D Beyond looking for the best ones for barbarian characters. So let’s get into it.
Changing 5E D&D Character Races to Fit Mythological Campaign Themes
Many times players and Dungeon Masters want to play a campaign with the feel of a specific mythological style. While Dungeons & Dragons makes for a remarkable tool set for building and playing any setting you wish the races presented in the game are generally written in such a way as to be either two generic or, as in the case of the dragonborn and tieflings, too specific in their backgrounds. When creating a customized setting the ultimate goal should be to provide maximum player options while maintaining the style and flavor of the game and setting you desire. Let’s focus on how to do so for one of my favorite settings steeped in the feel and flavor of Scandinavian and northern European myth and folklore.
